What do you do when you see a season-high seven-game unbeaten run come to a screeching halt?
In Toronto FC’s case, you immediately try to start another unbeaten streak, beginning with Saturday’s road match against St. Louis City SC. A 3-0 loss to Orlando City SC in Florida last weekend saw TFC taste defeat for the very first time since July 25.
Coach Robin Fraser knows a thing or two unbeaten streaks. He was an assistant under Greg Vanney during Toronto’s historic MLS Cup championship season in 2017, when it had two lengthy unbeaten runs: eight games (seven wins) in the spring and 11 games (eight wins) in the summer.
That Toronto team had a ton of confidence, something that the current side is slowly accumulating.
“While we haven't executed on both ends of the field to the level that we would like to have, I still think that our form after the World Cup break has been really positive, and I think (the Orlando game had) probably the most chances we've created all year,” Fraser said this week. "So, there's real belief that we are still moving in the right direction."
Last weekend in Florida was a major blown opportunity for the Reds, who could’ve moved above the playoff line as one of the best nine teams in the Eastern Conference. Instead, they dropped two spots in the standings to 12th with nine matches remaining.
Orlando City entered the match with the third-worst defensive record in MLS, having given up 56 goals through its first 24 matches (2.33 goals conceded per match). Yet, Toronto couldn't find a way to score and ended up being blanked for the fourth time in the 2026 campaign.
It has to be said that goals were there for the taking for TFC. Derrick Etienne Jr. squandered multiple scoring chances. DP forward Josh Sargent and midfielder Niklas Dorsch both had good looks from inside the penalty area, only to sky their attempts over the crossbar. Sargent and Dániel Sallói hit the crossbar in the dying minutes of the match.
The Reds won the battle of xG (expected goals; 3.0 vs. 1.8) and outshot Orlando 18-13. Yet, the hosts managed to score three goals by registering double the number of shots on target than the visitors (8-4). TFC was far too wasteful in front of goal, their lack of clinical finishing letting them down against their Eastern Conference rival.
Despite the loss, Fraser was pleased with TFC’s efforts in Orlando, believing it’s a positive sign in terms of the progress the team is making on the attacking end of things.
“I feel like on a different day we probably score four goals with the opportunities that we had. … We needed to score goals, and we went after it and created enough to probably win the game,” Fraser said.
Canadian fullback Richie Laryea echoed his coach’s sentiment.
“I think we have a lot to look forward to, with the way we attacked and created chances in that game; an abundance of them, honestly. The mood after was disappointed, for sure, but then also (we knew) we had to get going again for the next game and switch our minds to St. Louis. So, (we’re) still in a good place,” Laryea said.
St. Louis will be a very tough assignment for Toronto. The Midwestern outfit is the hottest team in MLS at the moment, riding a 15-game unbeaten streak in MLS (17 games in all competitions) and it hasn’t lost since May 3.
St. Louis (11-6-8) climbed to fifth in the Western Conference after posting a come-from-behind 4-2 home win over Minnesota United last weekend and is coming off a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday to advance to the finals of the U.S. Open.
“They're a really good team,” Fraser said. "They are playing with a ton of confidence. They are extremely aggressive defensively. They do some interesting and unique things offensively. … They're a tough team to play against because of how aggressive they are and how much they press and how well they press, so we really need to be sharp. We need to have clear ideas. We need a lot of really good movement early to create options for ourselves."
Elsewhere in MLS this weekend:
• CF Montreal upset the Vancouver Whitecaps midweek to advance to the finals of the Canadian Championship. But that shouldn’t overshadow the fact that Montreal is in deep trouble in MLS as it gets set to host the Columbus Crew on Saturday. Montreal has just five wins this season and sits in last place in the Eastern Conference — and second-last in MLS. It's already 11 points out of a playoff spot and another loss would virtually kill off any chance it had of squeaking into the playoffs.
• Vancouver can’t afford to lick its wounds for too long after the loss to Montreal as it travels to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake on Saturday. The Whitecaps still sit atop the Western Conference table but their grip on first place is slipping. Vancouver has lost two of its last three MLS games, allowing both the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas to move within three points.
• The latest instalment of the Hudson River Derby kicks off the MLS weekend when New York City welcomes the New York Red Bulls to Yankee Stadium on Friday night. NYCFC clings to the eighth and second-last playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, while the Red Bulls are just two spots and two points back of their city rivals. Said NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen: “We know it's a derby. … I think we've found quite a decent balance when we play against the Red Bulls, but we're also very aware of what's at stake.”
• Nashville SC can become the first MLS club to clinch a playoff berth with a win over the Chicago Fire at home on Saturday. The Tennessee-based club sits first overall in the league table with an eight-point lead over the Vancouver Whitecaps and is the only MLS team this season with an unbeaten home record (11 wins from 12 games). Nashville has lost just three times this season, but one of those losses came at the hands of Chicago on April 4 at Soldier Field.
• Fresh off its Campeones Cup win over Mexican club Cruz Azul, Inter Miami hosts San Diego FC on Sunday in an interconference match. Lionel Messi won his 48th trophy (for club and country) and now turns his attention to MLS, where he has 19 goals and 13 assists (both league highs) this season. While Miami is trying to keep pace with Eastern Conference front-runners Nashville, San Diego is desperately holding on to the ninth and final playoff spot in the Western conference.
• It’s a California clash on Saturday when the San Jose Earthquakes host LAFC in a key Western Conference matchup. San Jose sits fourth in the West, a single point above L.A., as both teams are fighting it to finish in the top four, thus ensuring homefield advantage in Round 1 of the playoffs. Keep an eye on L.A.’s Denis Bouanga (13 goals) and South Korean legend Son Heung-Min (12 assists).
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 27 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.